eil Gaiman started out as a journalist, then he became the author of the darkly and wildly popular graphic novel series the Sandman. The Sandman has become one of the most popular graphic novels of all time, selling over 7 million copies worldwide—which is a lot of ink.
Although he had a few short stories in the men's magazines in the mid-'80s, his first major project was co-editing (with Kim Newman) Ghastly Beyond Belief (1985). He also wrote the reference book Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1988), the children's book The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1997) and the short story collection Smoke and Mirrors (1998).
His novels include Good Omens (1990), co-written with Terry Pratchett (Terry Gilliam is now writing a screenplay and plans to direct it), Neverwhere (1996), Stardust (1998) and American Gods (2001).
Neil Gaiman is one of the undisputed front-runners in modern-day dark/urban fantasy. He is a multitalented, multimedia author, with novels, graphic novels, short stories, audio books, radio plays, screenplays and more to his credit. Taking a break from writing, this is what he had to say.
Douglas Adams recently passed away. What is your fondest memory of Mr. Adams?
Gaiman: My favorite memory of Douglas was when I was doing a Hitchhiker's Guide companion [Don't Panic]. When I was in his office, going through his filing cabinets and looking at BBC scripts and so on and so forth—all the Hitchhiker material. His mother had come to stay. She'd gone off and had a bath. And all of a sudden there was a banging on the door. And she was shouting, "Douglas, Douglas, I can't find a towel." Douglas was walking around the house, looking for a towel. I said to him, "There's a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy moment for you." And he said, "Don't you dare put that into the book." I loved the idea, that Douglas Adams was walking around unable to find his towel [laughs].
How are American and British science-fiction fans different?
Gaiman: It's hard to explain. American SF fans receive the mail from the Postal Service, while British SF fans get the post from the Royal Mail. American fans are more likely to say "y'all" (Southern) or "you betcha" (Minneapolitan) than British fans, who are more likely to know who the Clangers were, and why they had to visit the Soupdragon.
What were your favorite gods in American Gods?
Gaiman: It depended who I was writing, but certainly Czernobog was a lot of fun, and so were the Egyptian gods. And Wednesday himself was fascinating.
How do you feel when the critics compare American Gods to your Sandman series?
Gaiman: It depends if they say it's as good as Sandman, worse than Sandman, as bad as Sandman or even worse than Sandman.
American Gods is your biggest book to date, over 450 pages long. How do you keep the plot rolling and the enthusiasm up with such a monster of a novel?
Gaiman: Day by day, and a word at a time. And, as the Buffalo Man told Shadow, you have to believe.
What is The Wolves in the Walls about and when is it going to be published?
Gaiman: The Wolves in the Walls should be out sometime next year. It's a children's book, kind of like The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, and Dave McKean [who also illustrated Goldfish and many of Gaiman's graphic novels, including Violent Cases, Black Orchid, Mr. Punch and Dust Covers—The Collected Sandman Covers 1989-1997] illustrated it.
It's about a little girl who is convinced there are wolves living in the walls of the house. Her parents laugh at her and tell her there aren't any wolves and it's all her imagination. Of course, there are wolves and one night they do come out of the walls. That's basically it—it's a story of what happens next.
Your books Stardust, Coraline, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls deal with the magic of youth. The time in one's life when you're not afraid to believe in the fantastic. Agree or disagree?
Gaiman: I suppose I would agree.
When you started the Sandman series, did you ever imagine that it would still be popular after a decade. That you would win a World Fantasy Award and sell over 7 million copies?
Gaiman: No. When we started, I thought Sandman would be a minor critical success, a major commercial failure and be canceled at issue 12 [it went for 75 issues].
Do you know if Metallica's "Enter Sandman" was inspired by your work?
Gaiman: I don't know if "Enter Sandman" was based on Sandman. I do know that copies of Sandman circa "Season of Mists" were on the Metallica tour bus, because that was where Bob Pfiefer [who got to do the Alice Cooper comic] read them ...
Talking about Alice Cooper—we know about the musician side of Alice, but what is Alice the writer like?
Gaiman: I don't know; he wrote the songs, I wrote the story. I was there for some of the songwriting, but my most vivid memories are of a storm coming in and knocking out the hotel power, and so sitting out on the balcony, watching the lightning, while Alice told us about the Night He Met Elvis.
Can you give us the lowdown on all your works being turned into movies? Which ones are you the most excited about?
Gaiman: Good Omens, because it's the one I have to do the least on, and the one I have to worry least on. It's Terry Gilliam, after all ...
What was it like working with Terry Pratchett on Good Omens? Do you think you two will ever write another novel together again?
Gaiman: It was enormously fun for both of us, and no, I don't think so; we did it once, and we did it well.
Can you give us a sneak peak of Coraline?
Gaiman: Sure. This is from Chapter 3.
"The rats formed a circle. Then they began to climb on top of each other, carefully but swiftly, until they had formed a pyramid with the largest rat at the top. The rats began to sing, in high, whispery voices.
"We have teeth and we have tails. We have tails, we have eyes. We were here before you fell. You will be here when we rise.
"It wasn't a pretty song. Coraline was sure she'd heard it before, or something like it, although she was unable to remember exactly where. Then the pyramid fell apart, and the rats scampered, fast
and black, toward the door."
Neverwhere was originally a TV series on the BBC in England. Then you turned the script into a novel. Was that a difficult task?
Gaiman: Not really. It was like collaborating with another author, only the other author in question was me.
You wrote Stardust in longhand—did you get writer's cramp?
Gaiman: Nope. I wrote American Gods in longhand, too, and didn't get writer's cramp.
Although Stardust was written in the 1990s, it has an old-fashioned storytelling quality about it. Was this something you were aiming for?
Gaiman: Very much so, yes. I was trying to write it as if I was writing in the 1920s. In my head, with the possible exception of one rude word, the book is kind of written in about 1920. I tried to pick that kind of vocabulary, that kind of attitude.
You wrote a biography of Duran Duran when they were one of the most popular bands in the world. How did you get that gig?
Gaiman: I got a phone call one day from a publisher saying, "Hey, we've got some books that need writing. We're out of authors. Would you like to write a rock 'n' roll book?" And I said, "Yes, yes, yes—I would." Then he said, "Your choice is Def Leppard, Barry Manilow or Duran Duran." I said, "I'll take Duran Duran, please. On the grounds that they have done a lot lately and at least I can listen to them." And that is what I chose.
What advice would you give to writers?
Gaiman: Write. Finish things.
Any last words?
Gaiman: "I'm sorry you didn't like my book. Now, if you'll put down that gun, I'm sure we can discuss it like civi—"
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